Our past together Chapter five - A new phase begins
by agssaamor
Summary: Two years have passed and now Shang joined the military training academy to become the warrior he swore he would be. Will he get along with his comrades or not? How did his parents learned to get along? What did he think about marriage and women when he was fourteen? Read and find out! I hope you enjoy your reading.


**Chapter Five.**

_**Two years later…**_

It was beginning another day in China; the sun was rising in the horizon, the people were coming out from their houses and getting ready for another day like any other.

It was a winter morning, normally it would be cold and calm; but for a certain fourteen-year-old boy, that day would be anything but calm.

He was sleeping quietly in his bed, his room was cold, and dark because the curtains were over the closed window and you could only see shadows on that big bedroom.

Shang wake up, opening his dark eyes slowly, he sat on the bed for a moment and ran his fingers through his straight hair to take his bangs from the front of his face. Now his hair was shoulder-length and no longer messy, he had cut his hair when he was twelve-years-old to look more masculine, even though he likes to have long hair.

Suddenly, his eyes widened as if he had remembered something and quickly got up from the bed. He pulled the window-curtains aside and opened the window, letting the sunlight come in.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he felt the cold wind waving his hair. "Today; the real training begins…" Shang said to himself. The he opened his eyes, turned around and walked toward a wardrobe on his bedroom and opened the doors, revealing his elegant-armor with blue details. (If you thought he always used an armor without shoulder pads and with a bright-red-cape, you thought wrong; besides, that kind of armor was worn by high-ranking military men.)

Shang tied his hair up in a bun with a gray-ribbon; then he toke his shirt off, showing how strong and developed his body was for his age; he changed his clothes, now was dressed in a training coat with green details, a gray pants with white socks and black shoes with a black-leather-strap wrapped around the ankle. Then he put his elegant-armor with blue details and grabbed his sword. That day he would join the military training academy.

He left his bedroom and quickly went down the stairs; General Li was standing near the beginning of the stairs, he was probably waiting for his son, but got really surprised when he saw his son dressed with the armor; he was looking very imposing, if you didn't know him you would never think he was only fourteen-years-old.

"Good morning Shang, how are you feeling knowing that today is your first day at the place I learned how to be a warrior?" General Li asked to his son, which was now a few inches taller than him.

"I'm very excited, I waited a lot for this moment and finally it comes true." Shang said as he looked at the sword on his hand.

"I am very proud to see your enthusiasm. I remember the smile on your face when I told you that you would join the military training academy when you were older." General Li said grinning.

"Of course, if it was the masters and teachers of that place who taught many men to be great warriors; I want to learn everything they can teach me." Shang said proudly, raising one hand at chest height and clenching his hand.

"No son; the masters and teachers do not exist to teach men to be warriors, but to awaken the potential to be a warrior within them; and in your case, I know your potential is huge." General Li added as he lowered his son's hand with his hand.

Shang smiled slightly. "Hey! Are you two coming or not?" They heard Jia's voice calling out to them from the entrance door.

"Yes Jia, right now." General Li said very loud, so the maid could hear from where she was. "We better go now because otherwise she'll be mad and will say that we will be late." He whispered to Shang and both tried to not laugh as they walked toward the entrance door, where Jia was waiting for them.

"Good morning Shang; How are you feeling today? Knowing that it's your first day at the military training academy…" Jia asked with her tender voice.

"A bit nervous, but more than that, exited." Shang answered putting his hand behind his neck.

"It will be difficult for me to see you only once a week…" Jia said with an emotive voice "…I'll miss you!" She added as she threw herself on Shang and hugged the boy she knew since even before he was born. Tears were falling from the middle-aged-woman's eyes.

"Hey Jia; Calm down! I'm going to that place to improve my warrior skills; I'm not going to the war!" Shang said as he pulled Jia away from him a bit. "You'll see me the days I'm home, so don't cry. Okay?" He said as he wiped the tears from the maid's eyes with his hand.

"Okay young master."

"But I'll also miss you." He said as he hugged the middle-aged-maid, smiling slightly.

After a few moments, he pulled away from Jia and left the house with General Li. "Goodbye Jia, see you next week!" Shang said while waving at her.

General Li and Shang entered a small carriage that was waiting for them in front of the big-red-entrance-gate.

All the way to the military training academy, several thoughts went through Shang's mind. Questions like "Will I be able to work as a team with my comrades or will they be assholes like my classmates when I was a kid?" Or questions like "Will be very difficult to learn what they will teach me?" But mainly "I need to do my best and make my father proud of me. He's the only relative I have left in the world."

Suddenly, after a few minutes, he looked out of the small window of the carriage and saw a building that looked like a temple but was as big as a palace; it was surrounded by a relatively high wall and the distance between the building and the wall indicated that there was a large courtyard behind the building.

Shang toke a deep breath and looked at his father. "It's here, isn't it?"

"Yes; we arrived." General Li said putting his hand over his son's shoulder.

Both left the carriage and General Li picked up a big trunk with his son's belongings inside. They entered the place and walked to the military-training-academy; Shang tried to remain serious, but couldn't stop looking around, he waited a lot to be there and finally the time has come.

When they entered at the building, didn't seemed much more different than an old and luxurious house, apart from the fact that it was extremely large and there were only men and boys walking through that place. Some men, dressed in the same armor as General Li, approached to Shang and his father to talk with them about him joining the academy.

General Li handed the big trunk to Shang. "I have to talk with the other generals son, and after this I'll go back home." General Li said and Shang nodded to his father. "But I have an advice to help you overcome all the challenges that come your way…" General Li approached to his son till his face was very close to Shang's ear. "…Always be disciplined and fight with all your strength, that way, you will achieve honor."

"Yes father, I'll do it; you can be sure about that!" Shang answered proudly to his father.

"By the way, you will share a room with a boy your age; the room is on the second floor, the last door on the left."

"Yes I got it, see you next week father." Shang said as he turned around and walked toward a big staircase, and climbed the steps made of marble.

"…Bye son." General Li muttered as he turned around and went to talk with the other generals.

Shang followed his father's instructions and went to the last door on the left of the hall. He was a bit nervous but if his roommate was an asshole, he could just ignore him.

He put the trunk with his belongings on the floor and opened the door; the room wasn't as big as the room he had in his house, but he didn't mind, there were two beds on the room; one was untouched, the other was messed up, so of course his roommate were there not long ago. Shang picked up his trunk and put in over the untouched bed, which was his.

Shang sat on the bed and looked out of the window, seeing the blue sky of that winter day. Suddenly, a very loud voice startled him.

"Hey guy!" Shang heard a voice behind him say it very loud, this got him by surprise so he got up quickly and turned toward the voice; and in a Kung Fu pose like he were ready to kick someone.

"Sorry dude, I didn't mean to startle you." Said a boy who was same age as Shang, but if you put them side by side the medium-height-boy would look younger than his roommate. Shang's roommate was slender, had a very short dark-hair hidden under a scarf that he wore on his head, his training coat had dark-yellow assets and he wore bandages around his wrists and hands.

"Be more discreet next time!" Shang said annoyed as he frowned and crossed his arms. "Who are you?" Shang asked as he arched an eyebrow.

"Oh! Where is my education? My name is Dai Yin, I'm fourteen-years-old." The guy said as he bowed in greeting to his roommate, seconds later he lifted his head. "Nice to meet you…" Yin said, realizing that he didn't know his roommate yet. "What's your name?"

"My name is Shang, Li Shang."

"Wow! So you're the son of the main general of the Imperial army. This is so cool!" Yin said very excited. "How old are you?" This time he asked a bit more calm.

"I'm fourteen years old." Shang answered cynically as always.

"So it's your first day here too?"

Shang shook his head confirming it.

"Wow, I thought you were older than me; you look like someone that is in the last year of training at this military training academy."

"I better take off my armor, because probably in a while they'll call everyone to get out the rooms and start the training." Shang said as he took off his helmet.

"I don't even know why you're wearing armor if we're not even going to wear the armors yet." Yin said sarcastically as he put both his arms behind his head.

"I want to make a good impression on my supervisors. But if you don't want to, it's not my problem." Shang answered as he took off the last part of his armor.

"I get it; you're a tough guy, right?" Yin said as he approached and put his arm around Shang's shoulder.

"Maybe I am…" Shang said ironically as he took his roommate hand away from him with his fingertips. "…But I want to make it very clear that we just met, it is not because you are my roommate that you may think you're already my best friend." Shang said with the sarcastically smile we already know and pointing a finger to Yin.

"Okay; I just hope we can get along, if you need a friend; I can be this friend." Yin said calmly and sincerely.

"Thanks, but what we both need now is to leave this room because at any moment they will call out all soldiers to begin training." Shang added as he walked toward the room open door.

"Hey, wait for me dude!" Yin cried out as he ran after Shang and closed the door.

They crossed the hall and went down the stairs; then a man who seemed to be forty-years-old and the same height as Shang approached to them.

"It is good that you two are already here; go to the training area, it is right behind the building, I will call out the other soldiers of your class." The military man said.

"Yes sir!" Both the teenagers said; right after the man passed by them, they ran out of the academy and were the first of their class to arrive at the training area behind the building.

Minutes later, the training area behind the building was filled up with like more than thirty boys; boys between fourteen and sixteen years old which were talking, joking, laughing and fighting. Shang wanted to join with them, but let's say it's not very easy for him to interact with people unless people try to talk to him; so he remained still and serious.

Yin was just by Shang's right side, he showed companionship by staying by his side without interacting with others.

"Order!" One of the three supervisors that were on the training area cried out to the soldiers apprentices; this made all of them stop fooling around and stay motionless and quiet.

"This is a renowned military academy training, not a boy's club!" Other supervisor cried out to the soldiers apprentices.

"You all are here to turn into warriors, so behave as such!" Said the third supervisor, which was the man Shang and Yin saw next to the staircase.

"All right; the first days will be of physical preparation, since most of you probably don't even know how to fight for real." One of the supervisors said to the soldiers apprentices.

"Hey! I know how to fight very well!" Everyone heard a guy, who was one of the tallest boys (he was just a bit taller than Shang) between them making this "pronouncement".

"Take a step forward." The oldest supervisor ordered to the young man and the he obeyed. Then, the supervisor approached to the guy till he was one meter away from the boy. "Try to hit me; if you're as good as you said you are, you won't have any difficulty to win."

The boy clenched his fists and started trying to hit the middle-aged-man but he was just punching the air, the oldest supervisor deflected from every blow as if it was nothing; this pissed off the boastful boy, which tried to hit the supervisor with more and more speed and strength; but consequently, using less technique and this made him lose the fight.

Suddenly; the oldest supervisor grabbed the boy's arm, pulled the guy to him and quickly grabbed his leg; right after it, he threw the boy on the floor and sat over him, holding his arms behind his back.

"AH! Get off me! You'll break my arm!" The boastful boy said while groaning in pain.

"With these fighting techniques, the most you can achieve is to win a street fight." Other supervisor said as his friend got up and let the boy come back to the row, which came back to the row of soldiers apprentices holding his arm in pain.

"Now let's start your training with the basics. Look at the top of this trunk." The third supervisor said as he pointed to the huge trunk; when they looked at the top of the trunk, there was an arrow stuck up there. (Yes, the training that Mulan and the other soldiers received from Shang it's the same he received at the military-training-academy.)

"It's exactly what you're thinking." The third supervisor added. "You all will climb this trunk and we'll see who will be the first to get the arrow. Who would like to be the first to try?"

Some boys volunteered but Shang didn't do the same. "I better see how the other will try it first before I try, like this I won't commit the same mistakes they can probably do." He muttered thinking about this lesson.

When he realized, one of the supervisors was tying bronze weights to the hands of one of the boys who had applied to climb the trunk, the expression on the boy face showed that he was probably thinking: this weights are even heavier than I thought. Now Shang understood why his father always made he climb up trees with a heavy backpack on his back as a part of the trainings and increased the weight from time to time.

None of the boys who volunteered first to try to climb the trunk managed to reach even the halfway through the trunk.

"Sirs! I think he can do it!" Yin cried out to excitedly to the supervisors as he pointed to Shang, which almost punched his roommate for his inconvenient comment.

"Fine; come here Li Shang, and do your best." The oldest supervisor said calmly, Shang was a bit nervous but he was a disciplined boy so he obeyed and walked toward the trunk.

He tied the weights on his wrists by himself and took a deep breath before he tried to climb the trunk; he was angry at Yin for drawing attention to him, Dai Yin was undoubtedly an inconvenient.

He jumped up, grabbed the trunk and slowly climbed the trunk; it took a lot of strength not to fall off that slippery log using those bronze weights. But he kept climbing; even groaning for the effort, even wearing his nails to not fall; this hurt a lot but he didn't mind. When he was a half meter away from the top of the trunk, he raised his left arm and plucked the arrow from the trunk, this made he smile confidently.

Shang quickly got off the trunk and walked toward the supervisors, he handed the arrow to one of them; all the soldiers apprentices were with their eyes widened, even the supervisors.

Seconds later; almost all of the boys were screaming, cheering, jumping up and down and whistling. Some boys remained still and just looked at him with disdain, (or should I say envy?) but Shang didn't mind, he was feeling proud of himself and knew that this feat at the first day of training showed how dedicated he was.

The three supervisors congratulated him for his great performance. Shang came back to his place at the row, next to Yin, which was smiling very cheerfully to his roommate; he was even making a positive sign with both his thumbs.

"What's up? Are you still mad at me?" Yin whispered sarcastically to Shang. "Fine; apology accepted." Shang answered as he lightly slapped his roommate's head. "But don't forget that: think twice before speaking." He whispered.

That day, they had to run ONE HUNDRED laps around the huge wall that surrounded the academy; this took approximately more than two hours till all the teenagers had finished this exercise. After that, all the boys (including Shang) were sitting on the floor covered in a thin layer of snow, leaning on each other, with red cheeks and gasping.

Shang and Yin were sitting back to back to each other, Yin was gasping so much that looked like he was dying. "Do you…Think…that the training…It's over for today?" Yin said while he tried to not choke. "You can bet not, I'm sure the training will only end at sunset." Shang said cynically to Yin. "I'm screwed dude!" Yin said as if he were in a hopeless situation while looking at the sky.

After the training was over, and everyone was at their rooms, Shang was with Yin at their room; they were talking about their lives after they were already clean and putting their clothes on.

"Man, if the physical training will be this hard every day, I'll take VERY long to get used to it." Yin said while he rubbed a towel on his hair.

"Are you an idiot or something?" Shang asked annoyed to Yin while he tied his wet hair in a bun. "We'll be here for four years! You've still got a lot of time to get better, like anyone in this academy."

"Do you really think so?" Yin asked a bit nervous.

"Yes, just don't say nonsenses anymore." Shang answered as he slightly slapped his roommate's back with a smile on his face.

They left the room and went to the area the soldiers apprentices eat the meals.

They continued with this ritual every day; every day, before and after the training, physical or studies at the classroom, they would eat theirs meals together and talk as friends, it didn't take more than a month before Shang accepted Yin as his best friend; but Yin always considered Shang as a friend since they met. Every week, when Shang was at his house, he always told to his father and to Jia what he had trained, studied and what he and Yin talked to have fun together during the week.

Yin didn't have a lot of brute force, but he made up for it with his incredible speed to dodge blows and to counterattack, he was very clumsy, so his movements were almost unpredictable. The only ability Shang wasn't so good it was with using a bow, but he wasn't satisfied with the training he received to improve it; so every night after the dinner, he would train with a bow till he felt exhausted. Doing this for weeks he became very skilled with using the bow.

Shang and Yin were who tried hardest in everything, martial arts, weapon training and especially in studies; for example, they had to know detail by detail, everything they were taught about the history of the nation, about the legislation of the nation and about all the people who are and who can be enemies or allies of China.

In his spare time, Shang focused on studying the history of the Huns and learning everything he could learn about them. Yin was the best when it comes of training with a sword; with his incredible speed on his hands, on the battlefield he was a danger to his opponent.

It was because of this that they were best friends, they could learn from each other and they could talk and laugh together. Shang and Yin were inseparable; Yin was the friend that Shang always wanted to have.

_**Six months later…**_

One day; the soldier apprentices were presenting a project that should be done in duos, they had to develop a combat strategy to be evaluated by a master, if the strategy was not good it should be redone; and each strategy was against a different people.

When it was time for the duo of friends to present their combat strategy to the master, both were a bit nervous, but they trusted each other and they've worked hard on it.

"Start explaining the strategy that you two devised." The master said patiently.

"You ordered us to develop a strategy against the Vietnamese, so we studied their story and the maps of that region." Shang said

"What have you two decided to do if this really happened?" The master asked.

"The Vietnamese would come by the south, for precaution; we will block all borders to the south, that way, if they try to return to their land, they will be killed." Yin answered while pointing to the border on the map.

"This is really a brilliant plan." The master said.

"But this is just the beginning." Shang said smiling discreetly as he looked at Yin and Yin blinked to him. "The Vietnamese are from the south; we will put a small part of the army at the base of the mountain closest to the border." He added as he pointed to a place next to the China's border in the map.

"This small part of the army will fight fiercely with them, but not with the intention of winning them, but to attract them to the mountain; because there's an unpleasant surprise for them there." Yin said smiling very confidently and with his fingers intertwined.

"What do you mean by surprise?" The master asked confused.

Shang grinned and pointed to the opposite side of the mountain in the map. "We'll catch them off guard, because the entire Imperial army that was not at the beginning of the confrontation will come out from behind the mountain and attack with all their forces; and since the Vietnamese will be weakened, the great imperial army will exterminate even the last enemy warrior."

"The victory will be ours." Yin completed his friend's explication.

The master seemed to be very proud of his apprentices. "Nor would I have thought of such a strategy. The strategy you two created is just brilliant, you are to be congratulated." The master said as he bowed in respect to the boys.

"Thanks sir." The duo of best friends said at the same time as bowed to their teacher.

"You can get up; for now, you're both excused." The wise-master said to his apprentices.

Shang and Yin left the room the master was evaluating the combat strategies and celebrated their success after so much studying.

"Didn't I tell you that we would pass this evaluation easily? We did it!" Shang said cheerfully to Yin as he high-fived him.

"That's it man! Because together we are unbeatable!" Yin added as he put his left-arm around his friend's shoulder (this time Shang didn't mind).

They were walking back to their room when they passed by a guy who was from their class, the young boy gazed at them with an expression more sour than lemon.

"Hey, what's the matter?" Yin, friendly as always, asked to the grumpy guy.

"The only problem for everyone in our class is you two." The boy said annoyed as he approached to the duo of best friends.

"Us?! What do mean by that?" Shang asked to the boy, he was angry at the boy for talking like this to his friend.

"You two; especially you, son of General Li, are already great at everything that's taught here, I bet you've only come here to humiliate others and stand out among them." The boy said enviously as he crossed his arms. Then he learned what can happen if he messes with a boy whose surname is Li.

"What did you say?" Shang asked angrily as he grabbed the guy by the collar and lifting him from the floor. "Repeat it if you are a real man!" He cried out with the guy as he shook him.

"This is unacceptable; nobody in this academy is as dedicated to the training and studies as he is and he would never do this kind of thing." Yin said angrily as he approached to Shang and the boy.

"That's not the problem." Shang said to Yin but without look at him. "You said that my father is the General Li and you're right about it. But the fact you probably don't know is that he was born into a poor family and my grandmother didn't marry to my grandfather, his life has always been very difficult; but when he was very young, he joined the army as a recruit and in the course of time he prospered in life."

"Impossible; how did he achieve the rank of general?" The boy asked defiantly.

"Because of his potential as a leader and as a warrior!" Shang cried out to the boy he was holding by the collar, the way Shang spoke with hi made Yin get surprised, he knew his best friend was serious but he never saw him so angry.

"So don't forget this! Maybe my father is very rich now, but when he was at my age he even starved! I would never waste his money on doing the futile things." Shang added and he threw the guy against the wall.

"I hope you won't ever again presume that you know everything about a person before you meet the person better." Yin said sarcastically.

"Fine! Just stand away from me!" The boy said annoyed but he seemed to be a bit scared of Shang.

Shang and Yin didn't say anything; they turned around, walked to the staircase and went to their room.

"Man, that was amazing!" Yin said excited as always and threw himself on his bed. "I know it's easy to piss you off but I've never saw you like that."

"That was just a warning; if he says anything about my dad again I'll break all his teeth with a punch." Shang said to Yin with a confident smile on his face, it was very gratifying for him to scare a boy who said he would be able to do something that would disappoint his father.

"By the way, you never mentioned your grandmother."

"Yeah, it's because I never met any of my grandparents; they all died before I was even born. But to be honest, if I could get to know them, I would like to meet just my dad's mom; for without the education she gave my father he would not be as kind as he is."

"Let's change the subject; I noticed that every night and every morning you look at the portrait of a woman who is inside the medallion that you keep with your belongings. Who is she?" Yin asked to his friend.

"It's my mother; she was very kind and beautiful." Shang answered while looking at nothing with an expression of nostalgia on his face.

"Oh… Sorry dude." Yin said as he held his arm with his hand, he felt very uncomfortable for mentioning his best friend's mother. Yin knew that Wang was very beloved by Shang.

"Don't worry; it's not your fault." Shang said calmly.

"Who drew your mother's portrait? It is perfect."

"I drew it myself."

"You? I can't believe it!" Yin said very loud, he was very surprised; he would never expect that his friend had this kind of talent.

"Is something wrong with that?" Shang asked as he arched his eyebrows.

"Nothing. In fact, I find it very interesting." Suddenly, Yin's eyes widened, he smiled and quickly got up from his bed. "I have an idea! Make a drawing of me!"

"Okay; I have nothing to do." Shang added as he picked some paper sheets, a pot with black paint and a brush. He sat on his bed; Yin was standing in front of Shang.

"Make a pose for the portrait look more interesting." Shang said to Yin, which put his right hand on his waist, the left hand on the back of his head and he blinked one eye while smiling.

"I said to make the portrait more interesting, not ridiculous." Shang said with expression of embarrassment.

"Hey! Is not so bad!"

"Just do this, stand still and smile."

"Okay." Yin added and did what his friend commanded.

_**Days later…**_

Shang was at his home in his bedroom; His father was at his own room and Jia was at the garden. General Li was sat on his bed, writing the duties he had to do the next day; but then he heard someone knock the door.

"You may come in." General Li said without take his attention off the parchment.

"Hey father, can I talk with you?" Shang asked as he entered the room.

"Of course son, take a seat." General Li said as he put the parchment and the brush by his side. Shang sat next to his father, with an embarrassment expression on his face.

"There's something wrong?" General Li asked confused to his son.

"No. The 'problem' is that I wanted your advice on a subject, but it's very embarrassing to ask because I don't understand anything about that subject." Shang said putting his hand behind his neck; it was obvious that he was very uncomfortable with this situation.

"Don't worry, I won't laugh at you, I would be being very irresponsible as a father if I did that." General Li said sarcastically.

"At what age do I have to start thinking about getting married?"

"Why are you asking me that? Every time your mom or I talked about it, you said it was disgusting and you didn't even want to know about it." General Li asked confused, but some seconds later he grinned. "Are in love with a girl?"

"How could I be in love with a girl if I'm at the military-training-academy five days per week? It's for other reason." Shang replied slightly annoyed.

"What reason?"

"Lately, Yin, who is my best friend, keeps talking about girls and what kind of girl he would like to have as a girlfriend."

"What's wrong with that? He can dream with a girlfriend if that's what he wants."

"The correct term would be 'daydream' because I don't think he would be able to find a girlfriend while he is at the military-training-academy."

"But why are you talking about this with me?"

"He asked what kind of girl I would like to have as a girlfriend; I replied that we are too busy for the next three years to think about this and this subject doesn't interest me. But Yin said that one day I will have to find a girl. This made me curious about this subject."

"And you think he's right? Because to some extent he is."

"As if you could say something about it; a matchmaker got you and my mother married." Shang said ironically.

"More respect with your father young man."

"Sorry. But I don't even know why he thinks about finding a girl on his own if matchmakers exist to do that job."

"Back to the subject, I think I never told you this story… your mother didn't like me at first and didn't even try to talk to me when I married her."

"Really? No wonder; you just described all wedding." Shang said sarcastically.

General Li arched an eyebrow. "Not all wedding." He said as he slapped his son's head. "What's your problem with the women?"

"Is not exactly a problem…" Shang said rubbing the back of his head. "…All the girls I see every year going to the matchmaker are beautiful but nothing more."

"They're fragile beings son, but when I married your mother; I realized that a wedding is not the problem that seems to be."

"I know they're fragile; I know that as men we've got to protect them. I just don't want to marry any woman."

"So you want to be alone?" General Li asked sarcastically.

"Maybe I want to, but I respect the woman…Let's stop wasting time, tell me the story."

"Okay, but be patient that this is a long story."

_Flashback._

_Years ago, Shang's father wasn't even the General, but he was a very much respected captain and was already very rich. He needed to continue his bloodline and he wanted a family; his mother died of old age and before she died she said she wanted him to form a family._

_He went to the matchmaker (note: it's not the same matchmaker we see in the movie) and easily passed her assessment of him, because he met all the 'necessary' criteria to be an ideal husband (ideal for her stupid standards, whatever they may be.) for one of the woman who visited the matchmaker._

_He was formally dressed in a wine red outfit with golden accents, he wasn't much different from what we saw in the movie; he was the same height we see in the movie, slightly overweight and with a beard on his face; the only difference is that he was much younger, he was 25-years-old. Waiting for the bride the matchmaker selected for him; he was a bit nervous but he kept the composure._

"_Captain Li Feng?" The matchmaker asked in a respectful tone of voice._

"_Yes ma'am?" He asked as he got up from the chair._

"_I think I found the perfect bride to you Sir. She's older than the girls who usually come here but she is very pretty as well."_

"_I thank you for your wise decision, ma'am." He said as he bowed in respect to her._

"_She's in the room next to this room; do you Sir want to see her now?" The old woman said calmly, making a gesture for him to go through the door._

_He passed through the door and followed the matchmaker to the room his bride was waiting for him. When the matchmaker opened the door, Shang's father got delighted to see the woman in the room accompanied by a tall woman who was probably her mother. Shang's mother was twenty-years-old; she was tall, dressed in a simple but beautiful blue dress with dark-blue accents that emphasized her curves and a light-blue sash on her waist; her long-raven-hair was tied up in a bun with a purple ribbon, and her face was with some makeup but without that white powder._

"_So beautiful…like a divinity…" He muttered, his eyes were staring at her beautiful face, her eyes were closed and her head was a bit down._

"_Look at him! He's looking at you." The woman behind Shang's mother whispered to her, scolding her. She lifted her head and her dark eyes looked at him with an expressionless gaze; her thick eyebrows adorned her face even more._

_Captain Li Feng walked toward her and their eyes met for a few seconds. "What's your name?" He asked calmly. "Her name is Ma Wang; but soon it will be Li Wang." The (annoying) woman said instead of let Wang say for herself._

"_I hope I can be a good wife, Captain Li Feng." Wang said without looking at him and without any expression on her face._

_They had a small wedding-ceremony and invited some friends to the ceremony; during the ceremony Shang's father noticed that Wang didn't have relatives, just like him, but at least she had her mother._ _Or at least that's what he thought._

_When they arrived at Shang's father home, (the house where Shang lived with his parents at the beginning of the story) Captain Li Feng got out of the carriage and reached out to his wife, helping her to get out of the carriage. Wang followed him and entered the house; she looked surprised of the beauty of the house, but remained quiet and just followed him as he showed her the rooms of the house._

_The kitchen was the last part of the house he showed to her, Jia was there, cheerful and calm as always._

"_Good afternoon Mr. Li, good afternoon Mrs. Li; how are you feeling?" Jia asked as she stopped sweeping the floor._

"_We're fine" Wang said politely to Jia. "If you don't mind, I'll go to the room." She said harshly to her husband as she turned around and left the kitchen. When she was heading towards the stairs, Li Feng noticed that for a moment she looked at him coldly._

_He sighed; felt that she didn't like him at all, thought he tried to talk to her but she didn't answer to the questions he made about her and didn't even tried to talk to him._

"_Master, maybe will be easier to be with her if you ask her what she's thinking about this and how she's feeling." Jia said tenderly._

"_You're right, I'll go right now."_

_He went upstairs and knocked the door of their room. "Come in." He heard her voice say it._

_She was looking through the window, her hair was down and she looked dishearten, he just took one step inside the room and Wang turned around and looked at him._

"_I know this is kind awkward, but if from now on we're married, I think we should get along, so talk to me; say something about you."_

"_Sorry for being indifferent earlier, it's because I didn't want to get married; well…At least not by a matchmaker." She said as she took her hair from her face and put behind her ear; Li Feng grinned a bit, he was managing to have a casual talk with her instead of formal talk._

"_I understand, I know that every woman dreams of finding true love on her own; but sometimes life isn't fair."_

"_It's not because of it I didn't want to be married by a matchmaker. This is something that my mother wanted me to do, and I hate my mother. So I hate anything that makes her happy, I've never been good enough for her anyway."_

"_Why do you hate her? Did she do something to you?"_

"_I already told you more than I should." Wang replied as she turned around and walked back toward the window._

"_Okay, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to." He added as he got out of the room and closed the door._

"_I'll find a way to get along with her." Li Feng thought._

_He tried to get along with his wife talking to her in an informal and friendly way; although she rarely smiled to him during their conversations, but as the days went by they talked more to each other and she started to go after him to talk. _

_After a few weeks there was no sign of disagreement between them, Li Feng and Li Wang liked each other's presence; but it still wasn't love, it was just a friendship._

_But as people say: an action can change a person's attitude towards you. After an event, Wang's attitude gradually changed towards her husband._

_One day, at the afternoon; Shang's father was at the kitchen, talking with Jia when they suddenly heard a sound that made them concerned._

"_GET YOUR FILTHY HANDS AWAY FROM ME!" They heard Wang scream with a voice it seemed scared and angry at the same time._

"_What's going on?!" Jia asked astonished._

"_I don't know! Stay here! It might be dangerous." Li Feng said to his maid and holding her shoulders with both his hands. Right after this, he turned around and grabbed his sword that was on top of a table and ran out of the house._

_When he barely put his feet out of that house, he saw a scene that made he get furious. He saw a man, which seemed to be a thief (note: It wasn't a Hun), holding Wang by her arms and lifting her from the ground. He looked like a normal man but he was obviously strong and was wielding a machete. Wang was looking at her husband with an expression of fear and sadness and she had a bruise on her right cheek._

"_GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY WIFE AND GO AWAY!" He proclaimed furiously as he pointed to the thief. "Otherwise get ready to fight…"_

"_What can you do about it? You think you are very skillful don't you?" The thief said very arrogantly while pointing his machete to Li Feng._

"_An army captain is supposed to have skill; now face me!"_

"_Okay…" The thief said as he threw Wang on the floor and started approaching to Shang's father. "But if you lose this fight, it will happen more than being assaulted."_

"_HAAAAA!" Li Feng cried out possessed by anger as he ran towards the thief; his opponent did the same. The captain's sword and the thief's machete crashed into each other, both failed to hit the opponent with their weapons. They started to fight with the blades that both wielded, their movements were very fast, at one point the thief tried to hit his opponent in the neck; but Li Feng dodged the blow, quickly slid across the floor and stayed behind his opponent._

_Wang was scared while watching the fight, but at the same time impressed by the skills she didn't know her husband had. Suddenly, the thief tried to kick him on the chest but Li Feng jumped really high and kicked the man on the face, the blow made him fall with his sword by his side and pass out. This just showed that despite his physical size, he was able to fight skillfully._

_Wang remained where she was, under the bid tree of the garden, she was perplexed by the scene she saw; Li Feng approached to the thief who was lying on the ground to see if he was alive. But suddenly, the thief grabbed his arm and threw the captain on the floor, meters behind him. Li Feng tried to grab his sword but before he could, the man ran toward him and made a machete swipe that tore his shirt and left a cross cut in his back that went from the lumbar to the upper-part of his back; the cut just didn't go deeper because they rolled to the side and only the point of the machete hit him. Wang's eyes widened and she covered her mouth with her hand; that was very close to kill him._

_Li Feng grabbed his sword that was on the floor and went back to fight with the thief._ _He didn't seem to feel any pain, maybe it was the adrenaline of the moment; he kept fighting ferociously and at some moment kicked the thief's hand, which made his machete fall very far from him._

_Shang's father punched the thief on the face with all his might, and this time he passed out, the punch the thief received left a bruise on his eyes. Then, Li Feng ran to the barn, Wang got confused; why did he run to the stable instead of calling help? "Where are you going?!" She cried out to him. Less than fifteen seconds he entered the barn he came out from there with a rope on his hand. Wang looked at him with a "now I got it" expression on her face._

"_Don't just stand there looking at me. Help me tie him up!" Li Feng said a bit annoyed to his wife. She nodded and helped her husband to tie the thief's hands behind his back, taking advantage that he was passed out._

"_That was amazing! I didn't know you are so good at fighting!" Wang said smiling cheerfully to her husband. "Well, what can I say; I dedicated myself a lot to be a good fighter and… Ah!" He said proudly when had his sentence interrupted by a sudden pain on his back and put one of his hands on his back._

"_What's wrong? Is the cut hurting too much?" Wang asked worried._

"_Yes; this really hurts!" Li Feng said while gnashing his teeth in pain._

"_Let me see!" She said as she looked to her husband's back and he leaned forward a little to make easier to her to see. "Holy ancestors! It's bleeding!"_

"_This I already expected." He said sarcastically._

"_Jia! Come here and help!" Wang cried out._

_Jia was in the kitchen waiting to be able to leave there safely, she was already apprehensive, when she heard that cry for help she quickly left the house and went to the garden._

"_What the hell happened?!" Jia asked confused and shocked seeing that her master was injured and a man who was passed out and tied up._

"_Do not ask! Go to town and get a doctor!" Wang said very angry, but for real she was worried with her husband._

_Jia nodded and run across the garden toward the entrance gate. "And bring someone to take that rascal to jail." Li Feng said very loud to the maid. "Yes sir!" Jia answered right after she passed by the entrance gate to get help._

"_We better get in; you can't stay here with a wound like that." Wang said worried as she helped Li Feng to get up._

"_This wound will not kill me; don't be exaggerated." He said a bit annoyed while groaning a bit in pain._

"_Exaggerated? Me? I'm trying to help you, be more grateful." She replied annoyed._

"_Wow, never a woman spoke to me like that." Shang's father said surprised as he and his wife entered in the house._

"_Really? You can scold me later; now let's go to the room, this wound of yours need to be treated." She said sarcastically._

_Hours later, the thief had already been taken from there to jail (or any other place you want to imagine); the doctor came out from the room and went over to Wang to talk to her._

"_Doctor, is he okay?" Wang asked worried._

"_Yes, the cut was not too serious, I just had to clean the wound, close it and bandage it." The doctor said very calmly._

"_What are your recommendations?"_

"_As I said, the injury is not very serious, but the cut must be clean every day and the bandages must be changed every day if you don't want the cut to turn into something much worse. Do you want me to come here to change the bandages?"_

_Wang looked to the closed-bedroom-door for a moment while biting her bottom lip, as if she was in doubt of what she had to do. She sighed and looked to the doctor; she seemed to have found the answer._

"_It won't be necessary. Thanks for your help sir."_

"_You're welcome lady; if you need help I'm always available." The doctor answered calmly; after this he went down the stairs and left the house._

_Wang opened the bedroom-door and saw Li Feng sat on the bed; he was wearing other shirt which made it impossible to see the bandages around his trunk, his torn bloodstained shirt was by his side. "Are you feeling better?" She asked as she entered in the room and closed the door._

"_Yes, it still hurts, but at least not as much as before the doctor helped me." Li Feng said as he grabbed the shirt that was by his side and put it on his lap, as if he was asking her to sit by his side._

_Wang seemed to capture the message, so she walked toward him and sat by his side. Suddenly; she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him. "Sorry for not saying it earlier, but thanks for saving me."_

_He smiled a little; then he returned the hug. "I just did what was necessary; I couldn't let that thief hurt you." Since that day a reciprocal feeling was growing inside them like a flower._

_The next day; Wang was going up the stairs with a cup-sized pot with a white cream inside and over two meters of bandages wrapped around one of the arms, she had to help (or torture) her husband; she chose not to pay a doctor to do a task that she could do herself._

_She entered the room without knock the door, and surprised Li Feng with her presence; he was sat at the table of the room reading some scrolls. He looked confused at the objects his wife had on her hands._

"_What are you going to do with these things?" He asked to Wang, who was standing in front of the door. "Following medical recommendations, you have to change the bandages every day and I came to make sure that it will be done." She replied as she walked toward the bed; she even put her hand on the bed, telling Li Feng to sit there._

_He got up from the table, went to his wife and sat on the bed. He opened his shirt, but didn't take it off; showing the very long cut on his back._

"_Get ready, this will hurt a lot." Wang said as she rolled up her sleeves._

"_It can't hurt that much." He said skeptical as he tried to look at her even though she was behind him._

"_Oh, it can." She said ironically as she while she greased the fingers of her right hand in the medicinal ointment. "Feel this" Wang said as she started spreading the medicine on the wound with her fingers. At the same moment, Li Feng felt as if the wound on his back was on fire._

"_Ugh! It's burning! What did you put in this thing? Chili?" The captain asked angry and gnashing his teeth in pain._

"_No; I went to the doctor who treated you yesterday night and he gave me this ointment." She said sarcastically. Li Feng just looked at his wife and arched an eyebrow._

"_Whatever, just stand still." Wang said and went back to spread to ointment on the back of the captain._

"_Argh! Slower! You don't have an ounce of delicacy."_

"_At the moment you are not in a position to complain." Wang said sarcastically; noticing that he got a bit annoyed, she tried to be funny. "I'm just kidding; I know what is best to do in these situations."_

"_Can I ask a question?"_

"_Of course, I guess..."_

"_I remember that in the first day after the wedding-ceremony, you told me that you hate you mother; but why?" Wang didn't answer and she looked to her hands, which had stopped to spread the ointment._

"_You don't need to answer me if you don't want to!" Li Feng said very fast, as if he was regretted for mentioning that subject._

"_But I want…" She said calmly; this surprised him, because she never mentioned her mother and it was obvious that the relationship between them was like a bumpy road since his mother in law never visited them._

"_My father died when I was very little and my mother loved him very much, although I don't remember him I imagine he was a good person."_

"_This is tragic, but what does this have to do with the fact that you hate her?"_

"_After his death she started to hate me; I look a lot like my late father so every time she looked at me, she remembered her husband who had just passed away. And many times she…" Wang couldn't finish speaking and started to cry silently. "If you don't mind, I prefer not to mention the worst things she has ever done to me."_

"_You don't need to continue telling this story! This is going from bad to worse!"_

"_But I want to, I finally can tell someone how I feel. She always taught me how to be a lady to pass the matchmaker test, so I would move out of her house, our family would receive honor and she would never need to look at me again." Wang said as she took the fabric that would be used as bandages. "And that's all."_

"_Holy ancestors! Your mother is below the level of human repugnance. Her soul is rotten!"_

"_But now that I don't have to live with her anymore, my life is much better." Wang said smiling. "Put your arms up, I got to bandage this cut."_

_They continued doing this ritual for a week; after this week, Li Feng's injury was almost healed and there was just a scar on his back. They were obviously falling in love with each other, but Wang wouldn't admit it that easy; she was very proud. However, he didn't give up on her._

_One day, Li Feng was in the garden at the back of the house admiring the sky and hearing the birds' song. He was very calm, even closed his eyes and listened to the sounds of birds mixed with the sound of the spring wind. Suddenly, he realized that he was hearing a voice of a woman singing along with the birds._

"_This voice is so soft, who is singing with such talent?" He said out loud asking himself. The woman, who was singing, sang only notes and not words; this just made him more curious about who was singing._

"_This voice is coming from the front yard." He said as he walked by the right side of the house toward the front yard where the voice was coming. "Is that voice from Wang? It can't be, I would recognize if it were hers."_

_When he_ _barely stepped on the front of the garden; he was amazed and delighted with what he saw: Wang was sat on the ground under a three and she was singing peacefully while the wind of the spring waving her hair. It was already surprising to see her singing like a goddess; but when she started to sing a song with lyrics and not just notes, the captain even smiled._

"_**I just wanted love,**_

_**And still I felt rejected.**_

_**Once I thought she had a heart,**_

_**I was too innocent.**_

_**But now this is in the past,**_

_**Maybe I'll never forgive her,**_

_**But it does not matter, **_

_**Because now I have the happiness in my life that I never saw.**_

_**Now I have who love me after all…**__"_

_He approached to Wang and started to applaud her. She got surprised to see her husband grinning and cheering at her; she frowned and looked away, she seemed annoyed but for real she felt a bit ashamed and she even blushed._

"_Were you peeking on me?" Wang said as she looked at him with an annoyed expression on her face._

"_I actually just peeked while you were singing the verses, but when I was inside the house I heard every note you uttered with mastery." He said as he sat by her said._

"_I didn't want anyone to hear it."_

"_I don't know why, your voice is the most beautiful I've seen."_

_Wang got surprised by the comment he made. "Really?" She asked as she looked at him out of the corner of her eye._

"_I swear, and by the way; you're right about having someone that love you." Li Feng said as he hugged his wife._

"_Idiot…" She said sarcastically and returned the hug._

_End flashback._

"Wow! I knew that my grandmother was a terrible person, but now that you have told this story I realize that she was more like an evil spirit than a human being." Shang said very uncomfortable with what he heard, putting his right hand behind his neck.

"Precisely. I was lucky to marry your mother; she always knew what was best for all of us. That's why I always let her make the most important decisions."

Shang sighed. "Yes, mother was the best woman ever."

"Do you understand now what I meant about your friend being right?"

"Yes." Shang said but right after saying this he jumped off the bed. "But don't think that you convinced me to do that." Shang said ironically as he walked toward the room's door.

"Like you said, you were lucky." Shang said as he passed through the door and didn't close it.

General Li just rolled his eyes and grinned; he went back to write on a scroll. "This son of mine doesn't realize that he's going to have to get married anyway when he gets older." General Li said out loud to himself.

"Father!" General Li heard Shang said it very loud from his room.

General Li tried to not laugh at the lack of sense of humor of his son. Everything was going fine on Shang's life with his father, Yin and Jia.

_End of chapter._

_The next chapter will take a while to be posted,_ _but I'm going to give you a little spoiler: the next chapter will be the last before the chapter that takes place during the first film._

_Be patient, because I swear on my honor that the next chapter will be published as soon as possible and in this story there are no contradictions._

_Stay tuned, I'm already working on the next chapter._


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